


First Real Yulemas

by a_not_so_peaceful_lady



Category: MAAS Sarah J. - Works, Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 05:11:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17298419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_not_so_peaceful_lady/pseuds/a_not_so_peaceful_lady
Summary: This is the late Christmas especial nobody asked for, but! It seemed cute at the time and I feel bad for not uploading in a while.So, to clarify some stuff, this work has some spoilers for the direction of themain story.But if you don't know the main fic and found yourself in this short story first. This is some other universe in which Aelin did meet her aunt when she was seven, and even though she met Rowan too, they didn't realize they were mates right away. I advise reading the main fic first.Anyhow. This is some fluff mixed with some plot tease for the direction of the fic.Enjoy (?)





	First Real Yulemas

"Kid, I'm going to ask this just once" Aelin glanced over her shoulder to see Rowan enter their training ring "So you better listen and answer truthfully"

Well, that caught her attention.

Aelin was practicing with two daggers that were made of wood at her mother’s request – since, as she put it, Aelin was just a nine-year-old– and though no one would end up hurt if she missed, she still decided to give the warrior all her attention. Even Aedion, who was practicing with his bow no much farther away, glanced over as he released his arrows. _What a showoff,_ Aelin thought.

It was strange to see Rowan fidgeting with his dagger which could only put her more on edge. _What on earth could possibly be bothering him with Yulemas so close? Erilea had already lose all their magic? So what else they had to fear?_

The wait set Aelin changing her weight from one foot to another, which immediately annoyed her. With her arms crossed she lifted her eyebrows. “Well? I’m listening, _buzzard_.” She heard Aedion snort.

Barely hearing it. Damn she missed her fae ears.

Rowan’s nose flared a bit. He wasn’t adjusting to the pet name yet, for Aelin’s eternal amusement. “Since is my first Yulemas without my magic, and the first one without a war coming upon us. I wanted to ask what the _princess_ would want as a present.” He rushed to say, just to quickly amend “Although, for some reason, now I’m doubting if you even deserve a gift to begin with” His lips quirked just a little bit – an improvement, Aelin noted, from he’s ever present _ice-face_ since their powers were taken away.

“Really? Whatever I want?” she beamed at him. And though Aelin knew she was offered this only because Rowan saw how miserable she’d become since losing her flames, she decided she would take it as a reward for every time she shrugged it off to the rest of her family and court.

Doubt began to surface in the warrior’s face as he frowned at the little princes “Within reason, yes”

Rowan hadn’t finished the last word when Aelin run at him whilst begging “Can I braid your hair then? Please, please, please” she made sure to stretch the last word as she pouted for good measure.

Aedion’s snort became a full-on guffaw. “Within reason, alright” her treacherous cousin mocked “I could’ve warned you about this, if only you would’ve come to me first” he said all high and mighty as he went to pick his arrows form the target.

The princess would not let herself to be deterred. “You did say whatever I wanted.” She muttered as she now patted her neck. “And you let it grow so much after the war. It is prettier now”

“You need more female friends, cousin” Aedion shouted over his shoulders.

“Oh, hush!” She glanced up to Rowan again, ready to start begging at any time.

With a sight the warrior put himself at eye level with his student “I did say that, didn’t I?” Rowan eyed her warily “But I also said within reason, kid. So let me think about it”

It was more that Aelin could ask for coming from him. She picked her knives and concentrated again in her targets.

* * *

Indeed, Rowan should have known better that to give the princess limitless choice for a gift. Though, being honest with himself, he was lost when gifting was concerned. So he had decided to be practical about it and simply ask what she wanted. By the gods, he was a fool.

The morning after Yulemas he insisted to keep her training lesson, much to her parents protest and hers. After all, he would be damn before he let anyone besides Aelin and her cousin to be part of it.

Aedion was one of his best warriors yet, for such a young age at that. He was not difficult to read. So when morning of the training came, and when the kids stood before Rowan to hear their task for the day, he reached in his training bag for Aedion’s present first.

“This is a dagger very cherished in Doranelle, boyo. You better treat it as the warrior I know you are meant to become” He presented a long dagger to the kid, his pommel carved in gold and stone. It was the dagger he’d used to defend the stone castle two hundred years ago against marine creatures who had crept through their rivers. Rowan had told him that story before, making sure a bigger part of it was kept secret from him, that Gavriel had been the one to commission that dagger from Rowan. He had promised to Evalin, after all, to keep their secret.

“You can cry if you want” Aelin whispered to her cousin “I won’t judge” she threw herself in Aedion’s neck “I told you he wouldn’t forget about you, silly” She tried to said it quite enough, but her excitement got the best of her.

Aedion pushed his cousin away from him and claimed “I’m not going to cry! You are!” Aedion began to test the weapon concealing almost perfectly the lump he was trying to keep down his throat. Rowan knew better than to believe him, though.

“Yeah, right!” Aelin countered before turning towards him “What’s my gift, now?!”

It was uttermost dread that sparked inside him when he saw Aelin trying to peek as he took the box out of the sack. “Now, it was hard to decide which to give you, _princess”_ Rowan tried and failed to conceal his fear from her “But here, happy Yulemas” he released the gift in her hands as if it had hot coals inside.

“It’s a book, some strips of leather and comb?” she didn’t get it “Thanks Rowan, but though I’m a princess and all, and that I love a good comb any other day. I think I would’ve preferred a cool blade to show off as well”

“But you love books, Aelin” her cousin pointed out as he flipped the dagger in the air.

“But the _Compound Story of The Southern Armies with Emphasis in The Mighty Ruks Riders_?” she made a face “It’s not my kind of book, to be honest. I do appreciate it, buzzard, I really do. Thanks”, her smile came more as sneer.

“You are a terrible liar, _princess.”_ Rowan made a mental note to teach her how to conceal the truth better for later. For now, he would teach her the value of knowing other cultures. He took the book from her and explained “Believe it or not, this is what you asked for. But first, come see.”

This was the only way he would give her what she wanted he decided in the weeks before Yulemas. So he took his time tracking this particular book and his time explaining the story of the ruk’s raiders to Aelin then. Their importance as an aerial force and any kind of army for that matter.

“See, from that high above the ground, for that speed of wind and the nature of their ruks, it is required a very tight braid, a very skilled one at that” He made sure she studied then the pictures of that particular hair style.

Aedion started to understand what he was stalling to say and double down laughing.

That made Aelin realize it, too. “You would really let me braid your hair?” she beamed at him. A full-on smile that was rarely there these days.

Rowan hadn’t known how much he missed her smile until he proposed the gift to her. That was the damned moment that doomed him to be assuring her now. “You may” he handed her the strips of leather and the comb “That’s why I brought these, so you can’t get any other kind of tools” he grinned at her then, realizing how little he did so too “See, this is the only time I’ll let you touch my hair.”

“Who’s says I’m not going to convince you to let me again?” she crossed her arms, but her mirth betrayed her.

“As of tomorrow, I’m cutting it.” He declared, giving a glare to Aedion for good measure. “So, it’s this or nothing princess” he tried to give the strips of leather to her again, now giving her a full smile, happy to know he had at least some control of the situation “Happy Yulemas”

She waved his ties away. But as he was beginning to think of safety, Aelin took some ties made of jewels and silver silk out of her pockets, and then a went to take crowns of golden leaves out of a hidden sack “Happy Yulemas, indeed” 

**Author's Note:**

> for any misplaced word, I apologize. I still need to read proof it.


End file.
